The Governing Council of Ghana’s premier University has appointed the Pro-Vice-Chancellor in charge of Academic and Students Affairs, Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, as the acting Vice-Chancellor.
The appointment of Prof. Appiah Amfo, by the Governing Council, chaired by former Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo, takes effect from August 1, 2021.
“The University Community is hereby informed that the newly constituted University of Ghana Council has decided to appoint Professor Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, Pro-Vice-Chancellor with responsibility for Academic and Student Affairs, to act as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana with effect from 1st August 2021, until such time that University Council appoints a substantive Vice-Chancellor,” a release signed by UG Registrar Mercy Haizel-Ashia has said.
The 49-year-old Professor of Linguistics, will become the first woman and the youngest person to serve in the position at the premier University if she is confirmed as substantive Vice-Chancellor by the University Council.
Her appointment follows the expiration of the tenure of the current Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ebenezer Oduro Owusu, ending July 31, 2021. Prof. Appiah Amfo is taking over the role “until such a time the University Council appoints a substantive Vice-Chancellor”, a statement from the school’s Registrar announced.
The Council considered Section 10 (2)(b) of the University of Ghana, Act 2010 (Act 806), and Section 6 (3) of the University of Ghana, and decided on the appointment of the senior of the two Pro-Vice-Chancellors, to act.
The newly appointed Acting-Vice-Chancellor was appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Academic and Students Affairs on November 1, 2019.
She had her secondary education at Holy Child School and Archbishop Porter Girls’ Secondary School, and proceeded to the University of Ghana from 1991 to 1996 for a Bachelor’s degree in French and Linguistics.
Prof. Amfo pursued her academic dreams at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway, where she gained both her MPhil and Ph.D. degrees in Linguistics, in 2001 and 2007 respectively.
Her academia journey at the University of Ghana started in 2001 as a Lecturer in the Department of Linguistics, she was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2007, Associate Professor in 2011, and Professor in 2017.
She is tipped to join the likes of Professor Mrs. Rita Akosua Dickson and Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang as the first women to occupy the prestigious position of Vice-Chancellor at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), and the University of Cape Coast (UCC) respectively.
